Machine for immersing, cooking, and delivering food products



1,579,645 G. CAPPI I MACHINE FOR-IMMERSING, COOKING, AND DELIVERING FOOD PRODUCTS April 6 1926.

Filed May 11, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR G ETANO CAPPI TTORN EY' April 6,1926.

G. CAPPI MACHINE FOR IMMERSING, COOKING, AND DELIVERING FOOD PRODUCTS Filed May l1, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR GAETANO CAPPI 6 m HEM Patented Apr. 6,

ED S E ore:cs;

I HGAETANO CAPPI, or SAN rnnncisoo, CALIFORNIA. MACHINE iron nnnnnsme, ooonrne, nun DEL VER-Inc, FOOD Pnonucrs.

Application filed May 11, 1925. SeriaI'N o. 29,637. i

T ll ho it may a ron I for the purpose specified that is of simple Be it known that I, GAETANO CAPrI,a.citidesign, cheap construction and readily op- Zen of the United States, residing at San erated. o I l Francisco, in the county of San Francisco Other objects and advantages of the inand State of California, have invented cervention will present themselves with rete'r- 00 tain new and useful Improvements in Maence to the subjoined specification 'andxthe chines for Immersing, Cooking, and Del-iveraccompanying drawings forming. a part ing Food Products, of which the following thereof, andbe morev clearly set forth in the a, is a specification. 8 v V claim appended hereto.-

The present inventionrelates to machines In the drawings, similar characters of ref- 65 specially devised for cooking in quantity erence refer; torlike parts, throughout. food products of the character described in Figure 1 is a top plan view'of the machine, my. United States Letters Patentn of April With its cover removed,- showing the endless; 7th, 1925, No. 1,532,881, andfis or such con w chain conveyor, as arranged for traversing 1 struction that the/utensils containing the the successive. passage-Ways, the entrance 70' food products to be cooked are fed in at one chute,and the deliveryuconveyor; n v end toan endless-chain conveyor'to bejthere- Figure, 2iisatransv'erse sect on of: the mabvborne through aproperly heatedtank of chine;;taken on. the line 22 of Figure 1, oil, or other suitable liquid, emergingthereshowing the dispositionof the sprocket-chain v from, tl'irough the agencyofa conveyonasa conveyor, the guide-rails for supporting the 75 T I perfectly cooked product. utensils containing the food products While The speed of the conveyor chain contributin transit, and the driving-gears Withmotor ing to the transit of the utensils bearing the attached for, their actuation; 1 food products is governable to any extent Figure 3 isa side elevation of the machine, through the mediunrof a trainiof reduction With parts broken away for its better illusgears controlling the motor,- or such other tration,showing the chain conveyor,the en; actuating means as may be employedfor the trance chute, the delivery chute, and the conveyor chains movement,- and providesv heating medium; and 1 g effectually for a properly timed immersion, -Figure. 4 is a perspective detail of aportransit and delivery of the food products, tion 7 of the conveyor chain, showing the the determination inlthis direction being des 'inethod of attaching the utensil-engaging pendent upon the quantity and quality of brackets.v I v the raw food products to be cooked, this My invention comprises a rectangular tank speed being regulable in accordance there 1 constructed, ofany suitable. sheet-metal with; l p i v material and divided by a horizontal parti- 00 Obviously, the machine may bepconstructed tlOIl 1 into upper, andlower compartments with a view to the employment of a straight 2 and 3,; the "upper section of which 5 is line conveyor, but isprefer'ably ot the co n-; adapted to contain a liquid; cooking medium, struction illustrated, sinee With=asuccession while: the lower contains the heating ele; I of side by side and reversed passageways, merit; c V greater compactness is assured and better rehe ;;section 5, is divided longitudinally sultsunder more readily controlled condiandvertically into a plurality of reversely tions obtained, to Whichthere is the added arranged passage-Ways 6, 7 8, 9 and 10 by advantage'that raW products differing in the 'means' of partitions 11, 12, 13 and let and length of time'required for their cooking the curved endguards'1 5, 16, 17 and Y18, 1 0 may be introduced at varying pointsalong' forming channels in parallelism, with an end the conveyor line tomeet these differing conof one leading into that of its neighbor, said ditions. I p guards having a plurality of concentrically The principal object of the present invenpositioned sprocket-Wheels-19, 20, 21 and 22 tion is the provision of a machine adapted mounted upon aplurality of stub-shafts an- '1 for the cooking of food products in quantity chored to the bottom 4 of the cooking tank, while in immersed transit through heated or section, 5 bymeans of flanged journals, oils, or grease, and automatically governing as shown in Figure 2.

both their transit and delivery. A vplurality of guide sprocket-Wheels 2 1,

A further object is to provide a machine 25 and 26, of smaller diameter than the sprocket-wheels 19, 20, 21 and 22, are positioned Within this tank in such manner that the endless sprocketchain 27 may be continuously moved throughout the several pas sage-ways in a succession of reversed courses, such as from 6 to 7, from 7 to 8, from 8 to 9, from 9 to 10, and thence back to 6.

The chain 27 is maitained centrally in the passage-ways 6, 'Z', 3, Q and 10 by the arrangement or the sprockets 19, 2-0, 21, 22, 24 and 25, the chain being positioned some distance above the bottom a and passing in a lengthened course throughout the entire heated liquid content 28 of the tank.

The guide rails are positioned slightly above the conveyor chain, as shown in Figure 2, and extend from end to end of each passage-way and are secured in pairs 29 and 30 to the inner side Walls of the tank and the partitions 11, 12, 13 and 1%, thereof. These guide rails balance and carry the weight of the several cooking utensils 31 in their transit through the several passageways, as conveyed by the chain 2. and its rigidly secured and regularly spaced engaging brackets 32. i

The feed end of the machine is provided with a conveyor 33 and a chute 3 1, as a means for the introduction of the utensils containing the food products to be cooked into a selected passage-way determinable by the length of time required for its cooking. When the utensils, or pans, have reached the end of the passage-way 10, they are elevated slightly by the upturned ends of the rails and fed into a shortelevator 35, which, in turn, delivers them to a delivery conveyor 36.

The conveyor chain 27 may be driven by a vertical shaft 37, carrying the sprocketwheel 26 at its lower end, the upper end being provided with a set of miter-gears 38 and a reduction train 39 geared to a small motor 40, the speed of the motor being governable, in this instance, through a rheostat (not shown). I g

A gas-burner system ll is shown in the drawings as the heating medium employed to brin to and retain at proper temperature the content of the tank for cooking purposes, though it is apparent that any other heating element would as well serve the purpose.

A gauge 45 may be installed at any convenient point for observation upon the tank for registering the temperature of the liquid content of the tank, thus enabling the one in charge to regulate the cooking temperature. The tank may be furth r provided with a cover 42 having hinged end-doors 13 and 44, as a heat retaining measure and a convenience in other directions, as well as a drain member 16 for convenience in drawing off the tank content when desired. 7

Having thus described my invention, 1 claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

In an apparatus of the character desoribed,'in combination, a tank of rectangular shape divided horizontally into upper and lower com artments providing, respectively, an immersion tank and a heating chamber, a heating element in said heating chamber, a plurality of longitudinally and vertically arranged partitions mounted in said immersion tank and extending from end to end thereof and dividing said tank into a plurality of re-- verselyarranged passageways having endguards, with an end of one passageway leading into that of another, a plurality, of spnocket-wheels, forming chain supports, mounted in the ends of each. passageway, guide-sprockets mounted in said tank, an endless-chain conveyor mounted in said tank and adapted for support by said sprocketwheels and guide sprockets, a pair of guiderails ofopposite disposition secured to said partitions slightly above the conveyor and extending throughout said passageways in co-operative association with said conveyor, said guide-rails being adapted to support articles as conveyed through said passageways by the conveyor, a teed-chute at the feed end of said tank to'deliver articles to the conveyor-chain and an elevator at the opposite end thereof for the delivery 0-1: cooked articles as received from the conveyor-chain, a reduction gear-train connected to one of said guide-sprockets, and a motorconiiected to said train and adapted to drive said conveyor at a predetermined speed.

In testimony whereof I have affixed my signature.

GAETANO cnrrr. 

